Starlight Invasion
by Rainbow Daydreamer
Summary: My ongoing sequence, some of it published in the Neopian Times. Neopian conflicts tend to involve dramatic, fighting scuffles, and be over in a matter of months. This one... doesn't. But that doesn't mean it's not a war that involves every Neopet...
1. Mission Command, I: Cynthia Christopher

**Starlight Invasion: Mission Command**

_Note: the events detailed in this story take place BEFORE any other Starlight Invasion stories (but after my short story "Don't Cry, My Little Love", if you're intent on fitting that into the timeline). I wrote this a while ago, and if you don't recognise it, I can't say I'm surprised: it's never been in the Times. But I thought you might like to see it._

**I: Cynthia Christopher**

I don't know who you are, or how you came to hold these pages. You probably know as little about me. So if you are reading this, whoever you may be, it's only fair that I explain.

My name is SweetCynthiaSC, or Cynthia for short: this is, or was, my diary. Lexy gave it to me some weeks ago, on my birthday, but it's only now that I see a reason to write in it. Not writing like a diary, random and insignificant, but like a real story, for all that that means.

The diary is covered in shimmering silver paper, and my name is written inside in glittering blue ink. Attached to the back cover is a long chain of coloured paperclips that my brother made in one of his quiet moods. Each page is ruled with faint green lines, there to write on whenever I have the wish to.

Danniibird, who is my sister, said that the reason for having a diary was to write down the things that happened to you each day. Then, when you're older, you can look at the book and laugh about what you were doing five years ago. I didn't like that idea much. Laughing at people isn't really what I go in for, and besides, nothing much ever happened from day to day. So I asked if I could swap the diary for something else. A bicycle, a plushie, perhaps a ribbon to tie across my ears, like the girls from Neoschool, the height of fashion.

But KatyaniAngel, my other sister, said that 'laughing at yourself' wasn't the _only _reason for having a diary. "You could keep it until something unusual _does _happen to you, Cynth," she suggested. "Then you can write _that _down, so people can read all about it."

So that's what I decided to do. And, I suppose, that's what I'm doing now.

See, I'm writing this diary for a reason. Something, as they say, Has Happened. And the Something started with Lexy not coming home.

Lexy is Lexis Christopher, my owner. You might know her name if you work on Kreludor; she was a scientist there before I was born. She ended up in Neopia Central, though, in a beautiful terraced house with four pets: Dannii, Katyani, me, and my new little brother Lycien01. I don't know who _he _belonged to before we got him, but he's small and thoroughly evil and doesn't speak a word of Standard Neopian. Oh, and he bites things. Seriously, anyone who comes to our house is likely to leave with a scratch on their ankles at best, unless they can fly out of his way. Anyway... back to Lexy. She's a bright, conscientious sort of Neopian and she's always been there to meet us at eight o'clock sharp each evening, even though she's had commitments in the Realworld. In short, the best owner you could wish for.

Or at least, that's how it was at the start of all this.

It was a Saturday night, and I was by the door, waiting for Lexy to come home as she usually does-- usually did-- to feed us and read the _Times_. Lycien had already bit Katyani on the ankle and tripped over the bottom stair, crashing into Dannii as she fluttered towards her room, so you can guess I was quite looking forward to some order in this house.

"Where's Lexy when you need her?" I moaned, looking at the clock. "It's ten past eight already."

Dannii sighed and brushed a handful of her own rainbow feathers off Lycien's fur. "If those Realworld parents of hers have held her up again, I swear I'll takedown them!" Dannii, if I may say so, was a pretty good Battledomer once. Takedowning is her slang for attacking someone with all the power you've got: a scary prospect for Lexy's parents.

By half-past-eight Lycien had bit me on the tail and knocked the trifle for tonight's dinner off the bench: Katyani managed to catch it in an impressive sliding move. "Oh no you don't. Cynth, can't you keep this ruffian under control?"

"I could if Lexy were here. What on earth is keeping her?"

It was half-past-eleven when we finally went to bed, having threatened Lycien with some rather un-language-specific gestures as to what would happen if he bit anyone in the night. It was pitch black outside and our owner was nowhere to be seen. We were all of us tired, frustrated and confused. Lexy hadn't said anything about a special Realworld occasion or a large workload. Sighing, I curled up in the four-poster bed next to Katyani's and fell exhaustedly asleep.

It was Dannii who first went out the next night, when Lexy still hadn't shown up, to see if there was any news: a freak data storm _had _occasionally been known to block access to Neopia Central, and then there were the Chia Police, who sometimes blockaded the street. What she saw, however, worried her even more. There were people and pets going about their normal business, with no sign of a disturbance. No red government Pteri had any message of danger to give out. Everything was normal, except... Lexy's absence.

"Have you seen my owner?" she asked everyone she met. There would be a moment of thought, a glance at the drawing she'd brought, and then a sad shake of the head. Shopkeepers, neighbours, police officers. No-one had seen her.

Hearing a noise, Dannii started. A cynical, scruffy Kougra was just visible, watching emotionlessly from the shadows. "Dear me. Ain't seen anyone as innocent as you in years. Just look at you, wandering around looking for your precious owner. You want to face facts."

"W-what do you mean?" asked Dannii nervously. The Kougra had a sinister appearance; he seemed somehow too thin, she said later, and his fur-- which might once have been yellow-- had grown long and tangled.

"It's always the same," he went on. "Betcha she was a bit strange the last few days, huh? Not concentrating, not cooking your meals properly, always with her mind on something else? Then don't tell me, she just... vanished." Dannii couldn't stop herself nodding. "Knew it. Sorry, birdykins, but she's gone for good, take it from an old campaigner. They all leave this city, sooner or later. Nothing's forever, tweety-pie."

"You're wrong. Shut up." My battledomer sister hit the Kougra sharply with one wing, knocking him backwards. "I didn't ask to be given a load of nonsense scare-stories, so go _away._" In a flurry of feathers, she fluttered back to our Neohome trembling with fury.

But he was right, Katyani agreed. I wasn't meant to be listening, but I seemed to have accidentally pressed my ear against the living-room door while I was meant to be watching Lycien. It happens.

"He's _right. _Lexy _was _acting funny a few nights ago, now I think of it. All jittery and anxious. She couldn't seem to relax. I thought it was just sunburn from that day at the beach." That was Katyani's voice. I could picture her, waving her forelegs emphatically.

"What- what if..." Dannii didn't sound happy. "What if she _has... _you know?"

"Lexy isn't that kind!"_Go girl, _I thought. "She'll be home to us soon enough. Just you wait and see, Danniibird."

Two nights passed, two nights of waiting on the stairs, raiding the cupboards, flicking through the _TImes _without any real interest. Two nights of babysitting Lycien, calming a worried Dannii, looking hopefully for Neomail.

I wanted to believe Katyani. Oh, how I wanted to believe her. But at that point, she didn't look much like being right.

I shook Lycien till he removed his teeth from my ear. "That was harder than usual. I reckon he's hungry."

"Aren't we all?" asked Dannii with a sigh. It was five days now since Lexy had come in with anything to stock the cupboards, and there wasn't much left in the house. Katyani was eating the horrible dried apricots only she liked, and it seemed my brother was eating anything he could get his fangs into.

"Someone must get food for us," said Katyani as if it was decided. "I know we can't get at Lexy's bank account, but there's always free food going, somewhere. It's too far to go for omelette, so we ought to get some soup."

The metal-handled cans clinked in all four of my sister's forelegs as she carried the hot soup into the house. "It wasn't a problem, guys. I just told the Faerie we hadn't got Lexy with us right now and she said 'Oh, not another one. Here you are, my dear.' Look, this one's for Lycien." At the mention of his name, my brother jumped up to lap his meal from one of the cans.

The three of us took turns for the 'shopping trip' from then on. I spilled the liquid from the can on my first try, but soon I got the hang of it. Life was better now that we had hot soup to eat-- and omelettes, too, when we had the time to make the trip to Tyrannia. Even sceptical Dannii said after dinner one night that she was sure Lexy would come back soon. That was the optimism it gave us, the sudden feeling that life was all right. Lycien didn't bite so often, either; he was sleepy and content, curled by the softly glowing fire. I played my violin too from time to time, letting the melody bring a smile to my sisters' faces.

And we were a family again, for the first time in almost a week. Severed perhaps, lonely without our beloved Lexy, but a family. Dannii with her fighter's determination, sweet caring Katyani, the lovable little terror that was Lycien, and-- me.

I still can't decide whether it was a good thing or a bad that we didn't know what was coming.


	2. Mission Command, II: A Life Shattered

**Starlight Invasion: Mission Command**

**II: A Life Shattered**

It was a week and two days since our owner had gone. There was no significance to that, in particular: I noted it that morning simply for the sake of writing something in the staringly blank pages of my diary.

Perhaps I should have saved the space.

"Whose turn is it to go for the soup?" asked Katyani at half-past eleven, as she did each morning now.

"Dannii's." There was an answering squawk and my sister came out from beneath the cupboards, where she'd been doing something with the workings of the 'fridge.

"My turn _again_?" Sighing, she brushed the dust off her feathers and flapped into the air. "See you in a flash, guys."

It was late morning. I hated this part of the day, when there really wasn't so much to do. With the jobs and chores of the rest of the day it was easier to feel as if everything was normal. Now, though, Lycien was restless, Katyani was agitated, Dannii was fed up and I was ready to scream. I just hoped my sister would hurry up with the soup. Where was she already?

"C'mon, Danniibird, hurry up." Katyani sounded as exasperated as I felt. "Guys, I'm just going to see if she needs a hand-- maybe she dropped the cans or something. Be good and try not to kill each other."

She left, the door closing with a click and leaving Lycien and me alone in the house. He responded to the situation as he usually did.

"Ow! Gerroff, Lyci. That hurt!" I rubbed my toothmarked ear and launched myself at the annoying brother, knocking him off the table where he'd climbed to safety. Safety, that is, from anything that didn't have wings. "Come here, you rascal, and I'll teach you to go around biting your big sisters..."

I froze in awkward guilt as another big sister came back in. Katyani was carrying a single, half-full soup can, and she bolted the door tightly behind her. I noticed how her eyes glittered in the glow of the light-bulb.

"Where's Dannii?" I asked. She shuffled her feet.

"I think... she must have been called away," was the only response my sister would give me.

And I read between the lines. Dannii was gone. Just... gone.

Kat didn't do much with us that afternoon. She locked herself in Lexy's study, sorting through piles of disorganised paper and scattered folders. I sat in my own room wondering what in Neopia could have happened.

_Maybe Lexy put in an application to have the Neohome demolished and it'll be gone without trace in a few hours. Maybe she's been burgled- no, I'd have noticed. Maybe Lexy came back for Dannii. Why Dannii and not us? Doesn't she want us with her? I mean, I can understand not loving Lycien much, but what about Katyani? What about... me?_

The sudden sound of a gasp brought me back to reality. I banged on the study door until Katyani, flustered and shaken, opened it. "Are you okay, Kat? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing..." My sister looked as if she'd had a fright, her antennae standing on end, her eyes enormously wide. I looked past her and saw the fireplace glowing and sputtering, as if something had been thrown into it. A curl of scorched paper lay smouldering on the rug.

There was something Kat wasn't telling me.

"Cynthia. Lycien."

It was evening, it was raining, and Katyani was seated on the sofa looking-not-looking at the two of us. Lycien had his teeth sunk into a rubber toy; I had my diary and pen, of course.

"Listen. I've been thinking," she began. "Until... until Dannii comes back, I want you to be very careful. You must stay near me at all times, both of you. Don't go anywhere on your own. And keep an eye on each other!" She handed me a length of string. "This can be a lead for Lycien, until I manage to get a proper one from somewhere. It's to keep him on when we're out."

"A _lead?_" I managed, stuttering wildly. "For _Lycien?_ He'll bite my wing off if I try and put it on him."

"Do it when he's asleep?" suggested Kat. "_Please_, Cynth. For my sake if not for his."

I agreed, puzzled by her sudden concern for Lycien's safety. In my experience the terror that was my little brother was perfectly able to look after himself.

So, for a few days, the three of us went everywhere together. Even the soup-errands now needed all of us, it seemed. I got a few more toothmarks on my rainbow stripes; Katyani helped me tie the string lead to my brother.

It was just another day at the Soup Kitchen when it happened. Kat was lifting the three cans of minestrone when she heard the gruff voice of a customer at the counter, "Have you served any pets belonging to Lexis Christopher?"

"Why, yes," smiled the Soup Faerie, "those three over--"

Katyani dropped the soup, grabbed the two of us and, apparently for no reason, began to run. And the hooded figure followed her.

I didn't have the time or the breath to ask what was going on as Kat hurled herself over walls and through gateways. From time to time she'd glance over one shoulder and change direction rapidly.

Finally, I recovered my breath. "Kat what's happening who's that man where are we going are we in trouble?" The terrifying thought crossed my mind that perhaps the man meant to take us to the Pound. I clung tighter, but looking back I could see our pursuer closing in on us.

Katyani skidded to a halt in a tree-lined town square. "It's no good. I can't outrun him, his speed stat must be through the roof." She looked around in panic, but the square was more or less deserted. "I knew this would happen." Setting Lycien and me down on the cobblestones, she pulled a Lightning Beam apparently from nowhere. "Cynth, take Lycien and run. When you get home, don't leave the house unless it's urgent. Go on!" I hesitated, but she shoved me. "He'll catch you if you aren't quick!"

I didn't want to leave her, and I stood there with Lycien's lead tied to my wrist, not understanding what was happening.

Suddenly, Katyani fired a tiny bolt of lightning at my brother. Startled, enraged, he dived across the square at an amazing speed. Still attached to him by a length of cord, I could only let myself be dragged along behind him, flapping desperately to lift my body from the ground, stop the friction against my skin.

I'll always remember that that was how I left Katyani, not because I wanted to, not because she wanted me to, but all because of a stupid baby brother. As Lycien dragged me out of the city square, I heard the sound of a weapon being fired. _Kat, oh, Katyani._

Halfway home, Lycien's rage cooled. I managed to get to my feet, bruised and scraped from the journey. You can imagine that I didn't have the heart to tug on his lead all the long way home.

And there we were. Lycien and me in the kitchen, suddenly closer than we'd ever been.

For hours I waited, hoping despite everything that she'd come in, hurt from the fight maybe, but _there_, ready to tell us the truth and soothe my bruises, hold Lycien and bolt the door.

She didn't. Of course she didn't. I'd seen the look in her deep brown eyes as she told me to leave, and I'd known even then what she meant by it. She was gone.

Katyani. Gone.

Was _that_ what had happened to Lexy, in some street a few miles from home? Was that what had happened to Dannii, who never _came _home?

Why had Kat tried to protect me and Lycien from it? How had she known what was coming?

_Why, Kat?_

But there was no time, now, to wonder. I had to look after myself and Lycien. I was the oldest now, and Lyci was the only thing I had left.

It was a week of hunger and bite-marks on my skin before I plucked up the courage to go out and find food. I never took Lycien. The trip to the Soup Faerie's kitchen-- once a simple flight-- made my heart beat wildly and my paws tremble. But after half an hour of terror I was back at my own Neohome, slamming the door behind me.

Lyci was at my feet then, clutching, snapping playfully. I think he'd missed me, or maybe he was just after his dinner. I gave him the hot soup in a chipped china mug and thanked the stars I'd made it home safely.

Sometimes, I'd catch him looking out of the window. Was he looking for Lexy, Dannii, Kat? Maybe he wondered why I wouldn't let him out any more.

He had his answer sooner than I'd have liked, when it came to it.

I half-ran, half-flew back to the Neohome with a full soup-can in each paw. Fiddling with the door handle, I let myself into the kitchen. "Lyci? Dinner's here!"

He didn't answer, either with noise or with his presence. For some reason, a knot of anxiousness was already forming somewhere in my stomach. I hoped I was wrong. "Lyci! LYCIEN01!"

This time I heard the slight cry from outside.

A metal craft of some sort stood on the back-garden lawn, where I'd been too concerned with my own safety to see it on my way in. A few pets stood outside it. I call them _pets_ because they looked at least a little like Neopets, but their appearance struck fear into me.

One of them was holding Lycien. My brother had sunk his teeth into the massive mutant Grundo's arm, but his sharp teeth seemed to be having little effect beyond a few red scratches.

"Lyci?" I whispered.

Now, if someone-- somewhere-- is reading this, there's one thing I'd like to get straight before I go any further. See, you might think I acted like a coward here. And maybe I did.

The thing is, I'm not a heroine, not the sort you read about in the _Times._ If it'd been Jeran there, or Hannah or Garin or any of them, they'd have attacked the Grundo and probably won, too. Lycien would have been back in his Neohome before you could say "asparagus", and we'd both be in line for a medal.

Life can be cruel, though. Because all Lycien had was me. Just his Shoyru sister.

"Wh-what are you doing with my brother?" I whimpered, trying to keep my distance from the powerful-looking Neopets.

"Come with us," commanded the Grundo, pointing a finger at me. He tightened his hold on Lyci and indicated the metal thing on the lawn. "You must."

I did.

There didn't really seem to be much else to be done.


	3. Mission Command, III: To the Stars

**Starlight Invasion: Mission Command**

**III: To The Stars**

"Sir, the other two Neopets are here."

I glared at the mutant Grundo, who was talking into some sort of mechanical device. _Typical, _I thought to myself, _he doesn't even have the intelligence to remember two names, even two that are pretty similar. Cynthia and Lycien. Even calling us by our species would've been something._

He obviously knew which of us was inclined to fight, though. Lycien had been given a cloudy, bitter drink that had lulled him into an uneasy sleep. I knew the taste because I'd tried a sip, more concerned about my thirst than my ability to bite anybody.

We were both chained, locked against the wall of the metal creation that was flying us to an unknown destination. I had no way of resisting the powerful pets that had done this to us. The only thing I could do was... to wait.

I glanced out of the window and saw only star-studded darkness. Yet the Grundo was on his feet, preparing to open the steel door. "You." He looked at one of his companions. "Unlock the little dragon and get her to bring her brother, too."

So I followed him, a heavy chain still binding my paws, and Lycien's sleeping body resting in my grip. Although the night sky was all I could see, suddenly there was a walkway for my paws, and in front of me a shining pod like an enormous version of the one I was travelling in. I felt a shiver run down my spine as a door slid open ahead.

Inside it was almost as dark as the sky outside. If I squinted into the blackness, I thought I could see figures, moving around in a massive room. Footsteps. Voices, but talking in a language I couldn't understand.

The device in the Grundo's hand crackled with sound. "You're to bring them up here. At once."

With my eyes getting used to the dark now, I could see the stairs I had to climb. Lycien stirred and kicked out in his sleep as we neared the top.

The room there was shadowed, but not as dark as the corridor before it. As the two of us were dumped in the middle of the floor, I looked towards the pool of white light on one side of the room and made out the figure of a human, chained against the wall just as I'd been to the flying-pod. A female human, her rainbow sweater creased and her hair tangled.

I screamed and threw myself towards her.

"LEXY!"

She didn't seem glad to see me. It was like a shadow had passed across her eyes the minute she realised who I was. "Cynthia," she whispered softly, reaching towards me, still with a sadness in her expression that I couldn't understand.

"Looks like they got the right Shoyru, then." The voice came from somewhere behind me, cold and almost mocking. "And here... take a look at the other one, see if you recognise him too." A hand shoved Lycien towards Lexy, his soft breathing echoing in the shadows. "Do you recognise this Neopet, Miss Christopher?"

There was a long pause. "I don't."

_What?_

Couldn't Lexy remember Lycien, the pet she'd fallen in love with at the Neopian adoption centre? Surely she couldn't have forgotten my brother's ferocious spirit, his habit of biting everyone, his utter lack of anything approaching Neopian language.

"I don't recognise him. The Shoyru is mine, her name is SweetCyn--"

"The Shoyru's name is of no consequence," snapped the voice. "You say this Neopet is nothing to do with you. Very well. Guards, this one is no further use to me. Have him... removed." A robotic claw reached out, closing around Lycien's body.

"_No!_" Lexy screamed aloud, her voice hoarse and panicked. "WAIT, I recognise him now. He's Lycien, Lycien01, my youngest Neopet. Cynthia's brother. Give him to me!"

Lycien was thrown roughly to Lexy's feet, and she held him tight, the chains at her wrists rattling. "Oh, Lyci," she murmured.

A moment later, Lexy flashed a brilliant glance into the shadows in one corner of the room. "Well, there you are, then. You've got _all_ my pets. You can't kid me any longer by saying you'll leave the rest in peace if I help you..."

The unknown voice spoke again. "You underestimate me, Miss Christopher. I have many more cards left to play."

I held Lexy's chained hand, not understanding, but trying to comfort her. Suddenly she winced in pain and pulled away. Puzzled, I looked at her skin and saw a dark bruise on the back of her hand. As I looked up, wanting to ask her what had happened, I saw the scratch on her cheek as well, but she caught my glance and shook her head to say _it's nothing._

Lexy, hurt?

"What happened?" I whispered in her ear.

"It's nothing..." Lexy touched the scratch unconsciously. "Just an accident. Don't worry, Cynth."

"Your other pets, sadly, are still being treated to recovery in the medical room," sighed the voice. "And this blue nightmare--" I was sure he meant Lycien-- "is still asleep. I should have told those guards not to overdo the sleeping mixture." For a moment, there was silence. "That leaves this little Shoyru."

_Me?_

"No..." The word was barely audible, but it hung on Lexy's lips like a prayer. "No, don't..."

"All right, then." That same mocking tone. "I won't make her one of my fighters. She looks too weak anyhow..." Before Lexy could manage a word of thanks, the voice struck its blow. "I have other plans, Miss Christopher."

A metal claw suddenly clutched me, the same sort that had held Lycien. I was drawn helplessly towards a figure I could see now, tall and dressed in a long, dark cape.

"Hold still." The voice was close now. "That is an order."

I didn't know why, but I obeyed him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Lexy was trembling.

"You're a foolish little girl, Miss Christopher. Do you know that? You thought I'd have _less _power over you once your Neopets were in my hands. I never thought humans were that stupid."

"Shut up." Lexy didn't take her eyes off me. "Give me back my Shoyru. _Drop_ her! Now!"

"Oh, really?" There was a small snigger. "All right, I will." The tall stranger held me at arm's length. "But _where _I drop her…" He glanced out of the window at the surface of a rocky planet, far below the fast-moving ship. "Depends on you, doesn't it, Miss Christopher?"

"You wouldn't!"

"Mistaken again, my dear." The voice was quietly menacing. "Your information could mean my domination over Neopia. There isn't a lot I wouldn't do for it."

I told you, I told you to begin with, that I wasn't a hero. You may have been silly enough to think it wasn't true. Well, you were wrong. I know just what Lisha or Armin or Jacques or Nabile would've done in my position. They'd have told Lexy to be brave and not look.

Instead, there was me. And Shoyru though I may be, born with wings, _I am scared of heights._

"Lexy!" I screamed, knowing with every particle of my being that I was doing the wrong thing.

The next thing I saw was my owner collapsing to the floor. Her tangled dark hair lay across the floor, as though she was nothing more than a discarded toy.

"Fainted." I heard contempt in my captor's voice. "Again." He dropped me a few feet onto the polished floor and sighed. "Take them both away. The biting nuisance too."

The three of us were pushed forcibly through another set of sliding doors. The guards marched away, after checking I wasn't about to attack them.

"Lexy... Are you OK?" I heard a voice, and realised to my shock that it was another that I knew.

"Katyani...?"

"Cynthia? It can't be." My sister stepped into the light from the doorway. "And is that Lycien?"

"Oh, Katyani, you're _safe._" I rushed into her arms and hugged her tightly. Just as Lexy had done, she winced slightly and stepped back. Then, her emotions getting the better of her, she threw her talons around me.

"Cynth, you're shaking like a leaf. What happened to you?"

Telling that story took a while. Before I had finished, the door slid open again and another Neopet was placed in the room. Her feathers dusty and torn, one wing trailing, it took me a second to recognise the little bird. "Dannii!"

And it _was_ my sister. She threw her wings around me. "Cynth... I hoped you'd be all right..."

"Lexy fainted." I got the words out at last, and Kat bent down to care for our owner. I felt better already, watching her familiar figure stroke Lexy's cheek with one claw.

I didn't understand everything Kat and Dannii told me that night. We sat together in the cold room talking, with Lexy propped up between us, breathing softly.

_Lexy was a scientist on Kreludor before I was born_. That simple sentence, that I'd known since I was very young, took on new meaning now. She had worked on things so secret that the Neopian Government had moved her to 'Central for her own protection.

But sometimes, protection is not enough. Not when the whole of Neopia is at stake. If these people got their hands on the information Lexy held, the invasion of Neopia, twice thwarted already, would be done with in a matter of weeks. And now, Lexy's location had come to light at last.

"Lexy never told any of us about her discoveries," Dannii explained. "She's the only one who knows what this information is that those guys want so badly. And sooner or later—" She pulled a face. "She's bound to give in. You saw what they were capable of threatening her with, and they'll only get worse. We're landing on a secret base on Kreludor soon. Goodness knows what they're planning there…"

"Shut up!"

Katyani swept Danniibird off her feet with one powerfully swung talon. "Dannii, do you even know what you're saying? Lexy isn't a coward or a traitor." The tall Ruki had an anger in her eyes that I'd never seen before. "Lexy would die before she put Neopia on the line. Don't you realise that?"

I watched them in a mood of growing thoughtfulness. An idea, a strange, impossible idea, felt as though it was on the tip of my tongue, the back of my mind.

"Katyani? Dannii?" I said softly. "You too, Lycien. I want you all to listen to me." I got to my aching feet, taking a long breath. "I know what we've got to do."


	4. Mission Command, IV: Touching Darkness

**Starlight Invasion: Mission Command**

**IV: Touching Darkness**

* * *

The screaming of a terrified girl Ruki broke the silence of the night. 

No-one had slept through what had happened in our prison room. Nobody possibly could. As Katyani's scream echoed down the corridor, I pulled myself into the corner of the room, trying to hide behind Lycien, not looking at the slumped figure on the floor.

Dannii backed away from me, her bedraggled wings outstretched in front of her as if to protect her from danger, her face a mask of wordless horror. "You…" she managed, trembling like a leaf. "You… Cynth… _takedown_… how…" Outside, I heard the footsteps of the guards beginning to run, a babble of panicked conversation.

"There's no need to be scared of me, Dannii," I said with a sad smile, lowering the fearsome-looking item I held. "You might have known this would happen."

"You… you monster, Cynthia," she gasped, still trying to flutter away. "I never believed you'd do it. I thought you were my sister. I thought you… I thought…"

"I tried to tell you last night what needed to be done," I snapped. "I made it as clear as day. All that training to be a fighter that they're giving you and Kat, all the talk about Neopia coming under his control. But you… you wouldn't listen to me. You wouldn't do it even for Neopia. So…" I smiled softly, my eyes filled with defiance. "I had to, Danniibird… I had to do it!"

Dannii only backed further towards the wall, unable to say another word.

At that moment, an enormous Grundo in armour burst through the door, closely followed by his master—dressed in a dark robe—and by a breathless, sobbing Katyani.

"Speak, Ruki! What's going on here? Why did you call?"

Seeing that my older sister was silenced by her tears, Dannii spoke for her.

"Look! There!" she shrieked, pointing one wing at me where I stood in my corner, still holding a large beam-gun in my paws. "She's gone insane, completely mad. She stole that from the training room where we were practising fighting and she brought it in here and said it was time somebody did something and… and…"

The Grundo guard knocked the beam-gun out of my grip as an armoured Ixi grabbed me by the wing, holding me tightly as they looked down at the figure on the floor. Lexy lay motionless at my feet, her hair and her sweater scorched with dark marks, eyes closed.

"No!" Agitated, the black-cloaked figure ran forward a few steps, stooping to look at Lexy. "What happened? _What did you do?_"

Katyani and Dannii clung to one another, the tall Ruki sobbing, her sister trembling uncontrollably. It was clear they didn't have a clue about my motives at all. Lycien bared his teeth and snarled at me weakly, but it seemed even he could sense something was badly wrong.

"What did I do?" My voice was barely audible. "I'll tell you what I did. I stopped you."

"You…" He stared at me, then at the beam-gun, and at Lexy's fallen body. "You used that weapon on your _owner?_ You, a little Neopet from that planet of sentimentality and weakness-- you killed a _human_?"

"Lexy can't tell you anything now," I whispered, a strange smile on my lips. "Lexy can't tell anyone anything. Ever again."

"No." Shaking his head, he jammed his eyes shut as if to convince himself it was all a nightmare. "No. It can't end like this. Not some stupid little Shoyru. It can't end like this."

"Cynthia…" Katyani looked at me with tear-stained eyes. "Lexy, our owner… didn't you love her too? Cynthia, what were you thinking?"

"She'd have told me I was right, if she knew," I snapped. "You shouldn't be caring about Lexy right now. This is more important than her, or any of us. I just saved Neopia, KatyaniAngel."

"Unlikely," the dark-robed figure retorted, his voice shaky. "There are other sources. You did nothing more than buy Neopia another few months of time to waste, just like those crazy pets that lost us the first Kreludan base. You and your stubborn idiot Lexis Christopher, I hope her ghost never rests in peace, and your stupid, stupid morality—"

"_Landing at Kreludan base in two minutes,_" chimed a tannoy above our heads. The Grundo glared up at the machine, and stormed off to the cockpit.

For a few moments, the tall one simply stood there, incandescent with rage. I clasped my paws together, closing my eyes against his fury: I wasn't sure he wouldn't suddenly snap and attack me with my own beam-gun. Kat held Lycien tight, stroking his head.

"Fine." He finally managed to get the words out, through his teeth. "Dump these three—" he indicated Kat, Dannii and Lyci—"somewhere in the Kreludan moon desert with their _dearly _departed owner. They can live or die for all I care. As far as I can tell, their story of not knowing about Lexis' work seems to bear out, so they're no use at all now." He took a long, snarling breath. "And then prepare to take off, sharpish. Understood?"

"Three, sir?" asked the Ixi guard behind him, averting her eyes from his fiery glare.

"Yes, three. Keep the Shoyru here, and do not have the nerve to ask me any—more—_questions!_" He turned on his heel and swept out of the room.

"Well, you heard the man," snapped the Ixi. "You three, come with me." She began to drag my siblings away, receiving a sharp bite from Lycien in the process. Another guard lifted Lexy's body, carrying her in the same direction.

Dannii swept through the door as if she was glad to flee the scene, carrying my little brother with her. "Take care of Lyci. Please," I called mournfully to Kat as she disappeared from sight, but my sister wouldn't even look at me. The sound of her sobbing carried on the air for a few moments more, then I heard a shutter slamming. I was locked in again, without my siblings for comfort this time.

Silently, curled up as though against the cold, I waited until the sounds of the engine let me know that we had left Kreludor, until the roar of takeoff turned into a faint humming noise.

Then, lifting my head, I began to laugh.

_Great job, Dannii and Kat!_

I wondered exactly what the leader on this ship would do if I were to tell him the truth.

How he'd react when I told him that Dannii had had to show me how to hold a Battledome weapon, as I'd never fired one in my life. That Lexy had resorted to lighting a match to hold against her hair and her top.

What he'd say if he knew about the sleeping-drug that we'd snatched from the recovery room, which they'd been too busy investigating the missing beam-gun to notice. What he'd think of the way Kat had schooled everyone in their perfect roles, even slipping a dash of the sleep-drug to Lycien to stop his usual hyperactive biting.

And what he would look like when I told him that Lexy would wake up in about four hours, safe with Dannii and Katyani on the surface of Kreludor. When he, and everything on this ship, was nothing more than a star in the sky.

The door opened and _he_ entered, his teeth as bared as Lycien's ever could be. "Shoyru!" he snapped. "Come here."

"My name's SweetCynthiaSC," I told him icily. "What do you want? You look like you're about to explode."

"I just wanted to tell you that you're not getting off this crate any time soon," he snarled. "Come with me. You're going to have some psychological tests carried out. I want to know what would make a little Shoyru girl attack her own human owner… SweetCynthia. Maybe there's more hope for breaking the pet/human bond than I thought, after all."

"Call me Cynth," I answered sweetly, trying to calm the racing of my heart. I would not let him see I was afraid."All my friends do."

Following him down the corridor, I paused beside a large chute, steadily pumping air through the ship's systems. Tracing its path along the bumps on the polished floor, my eyes rested on a certain point outside. Slowly, I began to tear a few pages from the silver-covered diary I carried everywhere.

"Come on!" Enraged, he pulled on my wing, and I followed him reluctantly.

Outside the glass window of the spaceship, a wide chute mouth was blowing waste gases into space, away from the ship. Within moments, the only record of my adventure was drifting away into the distance, where _he _would never find it.

I smiled as he dragged me towards the heart of the ship. Maybe I'd find my way back to Lexy and my family someday, but for now, there was plenty to do. Neopia could always use a few more months before it was threatened with invasion from the stars.

It was high time, I felt, to find out what kind of havoc one determined little Shoyru could cause at Mission Command.

* * *

**Starlight Invasion:  
The Beginning**


	5. Mianne's Normality

**Starlight Invasion:**

** Mianne's Normality**

* * *

  
_People who talk of history often speak as if its tales are confined to a handful of individuals. Jeran. Hannah. Darigan. Sankara. True, these are the stories that Neopians remember. Yet if these few pets were the only villains and heroes of Neopia, there would be very little history to write. One way or another, the story would be over before it had begun._

_No. History belongs to the many, the ones whom some would think of as ordinary pets. As for the events of the so-called Starlight Invasion, no-one can begin to guess how many stories, actions, decisions were bound up in those desperate months. Tales of the great and the small, the wise and the foolish, the trusted and the unexpected. Tales of bravery and cowardice, cynicism and innocence, trust and betrayal, sadness and joy._

_What follows is just one of them._

_ ...---..._

Mianne.

_ /mi: 'an/ _

That was her name, though few ever spoke it and most didn't even know it. To the majority of Faerieland's inhabitants, she was simply "that silly girl from the library," or worse still, "the book-freak with the spectacles." Nobody was sure of her age, or her element, or where she came from. But because she was smaller than most, with her soft brown hair tied back in an amateur ponytail and her wings a rather garish lilac-petal shimmer, they thought about her as younger than themselves; if not a child, then at least a Faerie in training, too clumsy at magic to do anything other than collect post and catalogue books all day.

She sat, then, in her beloved library, the _Neopian Daily News _spread out in front of her, open conspicuously at the crossword page. Sucking her silver-coated pencil, she considered the next clue aloud. "Stockmarket ticker symbol for Super Splime Shakes? How in Neopia am I supposed to know THAT?"

"Could it be S.S.S.?" supplied the Cybunny standing at the counter, a hint of amusement playing across his face. Mianne pencilled it in and turned to him, seeing the book held in his paws. "I want to take out this copy of _Feeding Lupes_," he said. "My cousin's coming to visit."

She stamped the book for him and watched as he left, holding the copy under his forepaw. It was close to evening, now; soon she'd hear the faint chiming of the great town clock, far below in Neopia Central. Then it would be six o'clock, time to close the library for another day.

There it was. One… two… three… four… five… six. Mianne got to her feet and put away the book-stamp in the top drawer of her desk. She had to shelve any stray volumes, tidy the cards, then lock up for the night and make sure there was no possibility of theft from the building. Not that she believed there would be any. Fyora had made it very clear that any would-be burglars would be dealt with by Jhudora, who had strong feelings about those who tried to take away the books that _she _ might need for her spells.

Her jobs done, Mianne fastened the door and began to walk home.

...---...

Mianne.

Such a shy girl, they said. She keeps herself to herself, and she never seems happy unless she's at her desk with a crossword in front of her. Has anyone _ever _ seen her at a Faerie debutante's ball? Or playing catch-a-falling-star with her family? Who _is_ her family, anyway? Have you ever seen her with a sister, a cousin, her mother? What _is_ it with her?

And they would turn away, frustrated.

It was morning again. Her bag over her shoulder, Mianne began the long journey to work, letting her bare feet sink into the clouds as she walked. The breeze ruffled her dress, lifting her hair from her shoulders.

"Crazy girl!" She heard the voice from behind her. "Can't even fly!"

"I can, for your information," she snapped, turning around to see the bullying Faerie. "I just like walking."

"Oh, yeah," a young Fire Faerie sneered, her eyes flashing flame. "Just like you '_can'_ put the books on the shelves by magic 'stead of carrying them, right, four-eyes? I don't believe you."

"I could!" Mianne glared at the girl. "I've… just had enough of magic for now."

_ You would, too, if you were in my position. But I can't expect you to understand that…  
_

"Had enough of MAGIC?" echoed the Fire Faerie. "That's like saying you've had enough of breathing! Weirdo." And she stalked off without waiting for Mianne's reply.

The so-called Library Faerie said nothing. Deep inside, she was burning with rage and sadness. The worst part, she told herself for the millionth time, wasn't the teasing, or the loneliness of the job, or the misunderstandings. The worst thing was being unable to talk to anyone, _anyone_, about her plight. The secrets she had to keep!

Tears of pure frustration forming in her eyes, she ran the last few cloudbanks of the way and collapsed inside the doorway of the building, the library, _her_ library. It was all right now, it was all right. She was there, she was home.

This was, in a way, what Mianne had always wanted. An everyday life. Normality, quiet, the kind of dullness she'd only dreamt about before. Humdrum, comfortingly regular tasks to complete in the world of safe, predictable words, where the only excitement was that printed on the page. And all around peace, perfect peace.

_ I'm happy here, _ she remembered. _I'm happier than I've ever been. And the secrets… well, they're just the price I have to pay. It's not a big sacrifice._

_I promised dear Queen Fyora when she gave all this to me that I wouldn't say a word unless the time was right. And I'll keep that promise._

_ ...---..._

Mianne sat as she always did, her glasses perched on her nose as she studied the crossword. Around her, pages rustled and Neopets, young and old, lost themselves in the magic of the printed word.

"Miss Library Faerie?" asked a young Yurble, looking over the desk. "Do you have any idea where I can find a book about Sir Jeran Borodere?"

"Sure," Mianne smiled, getting down a dusty volume entitled _An Illustrated Neopian History, Part Seven: The Recent History of Meridell. _"Let me know if it's too difficult for you, but everything you want should be in there."

As she settled down in her chair once more, Mianne noticed something fluttering through the window, something that looked almost like a tiny, glowing bug. Spiralling downwards, it landed on her desk, where it took on the appearance of a small, bright flower. Of course, Mianne realised, it must be a magical message from Fyora.

Yet the voice that sounded from within the paper flower, magically amplified to echo throughout the library, was not that of the Faerie Queen. Nor was it that of any Faerie Mianne remembered meeting before. The voice was high-pitched and sounded very flustered, almost on the verge of tears.

"All Uber Faeries and those with specific duties, please report to the Hidden Tower as soon as possible. Jhudora, this means you too. Thank you."

Picking up her belongings, Mianne chivvied the other Neopets out of the library and locked the door. She began to run, crossing cloud after cloud, until she reached the entrance to the Hidden Tower that was visible only to fully-trained Faeries.

Inside, there was not the usual scene of calm order. A beautiful vase, Lost Desert-made, lay in shards on the floor, but no-one seemed to be noticing it. Someone at the end of the marble corridor was talking in a frantic tone, but the multiple echoes blurred their words. As Mianne entered, a trainee Water Faerie skittered across the room with a panicked expression on her face. "Hey, dictionary-girl, get out of my way!"

"What's going—" she began, but the Faerie had already gone.

She heard a hubbub of raised voices behind a door. Pushing it open, Mianne walked into a large room that seemed to be a grand hall of some sort. She hung back behind a pillar, not wanting to intrude.

A young Faerie stood on the raised platform at the front of the hall, her bright hazel eyes wide, twiddling a Wand of Supernova nervously in her slender fingers. Mianne recognised her now; her face, framed by flowing copper hair, was a well-known one in Neopia. The girl was Ember, the Gormball-playing Fire Faerie.

"Er… Sisters?" Ember called out, trying to make herself heard over the crowd. When no-one looked, she muttered the amplification-spell again and let her voice ring out. "Sisters! Please listen!"

The noise gradually lessened. Ember shut her eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath and began speaking.

"Some of you may have heard… rumours over the past few hours. It is my unfortunate task to tell you that the majority of them are, in fact, true."

There was a gasp from the crowd, then the gabble of conversation returned, twice as loud. Ember reached in her pocket and pulled out a Gormball whistle, which she blew with all her might.

"_Listen!_ For those of you who have not yet heard the news, I shall explain."

Mianne moved a little closer to the stage to listen, thinking, _Why is a kid like Ember up there? _

"Some of you may remember the autumn of Year Six," the girl began. "The time when Neopia was threatened with what looked like nothing short of an invasion from the stars. For reasons which we still don't fully comprehend, it never happened. The press weren't notified and most of Neopia was only vaguely aware that there had ever been a threat."

Various heads nodded. The scare was still too close a memory for comfort.

"At the time, we believed that was that. Life went back to normal. Until now." Ember took a deep breath. "In the past few weeks, Fyora noticed unusual activity in Kreludan airspace and beyond. I am aware of this, because I was there the day she came to the Space Station to hire a ship."

Everyone was quiet now, waiting like the calm before the storm.

"A few hours ago, we received word that all spacecraft outside of Neopian airspace have been captured by an unknown agent," Ember continued finally, her eyes shut. "We've lost communications with all the passengers on that ship, including Her Majesty Fyora."

There was chaos. Faeries were shouting, crying, protesting, trying to be heard. Mianne tried to calm her racing heart, breathing deeply.

_ Not again…Fyora, I'm not ready…  
_

"Well, we have to get them back!" yelled a Light Faerie. "Surely we know what to do?"

Ember faced the audience. "Save for me, who here remembers the first true Space War?" she yelled. Perhaps one or two hands were raised, and those who had done so immediately modified their position, murmuring "but I was just a kid at the time of course…" or "although I was living in Sakhmet at the time…"

"Illusen wasn't here, Meridell hadn't been discovered. Fyor—I mean, _goodness _only knows what Jhudora was doing. Taelia was on Terror Mountain, which was still considered pretty much inaccessible…" The Fire Faerie's face was grim. "Apart from Eithne, who is still in enforced confinement for inciting a Moltesaur, we have now lost _everyone_ who could be of any practical help."

"What are we going to do?" whispered someone, and the rest of the crowd took it up.

_Surrender? Never! Sit back and let Neopia get razed? I never learnt to fight, I'm an Earth Faerie! What good are illumination spells at a time like this? What are we going to do?  
_

"I don't know," Ember admitted, and a single tear spilt from her hazel eyes. "I'm sorry…"

And suddenly, Mianne—shy, bookish Mianne—was on the stage, her arm around Ember's shoulders, looking out at the others.

_ "Who in Neopia is THAT?"_

"_It's the library freak! What's she doing on the stage?"_

"_What a nerve! We're in a crisis and she's probably going to suggest we read the encyclopaedia!"_

"_Hey, four-eyes! Get down off there!"  
_

"Thank you, Ember," Mianne said softly. "You've done very well."

The Fire Faerie looked up into her dark eyes. "Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. Who cares? We've lost e_verything!_"

"Not yet," Mianne smiled, and her voice seemed to radiate serenity out into the crowd.

_ It's time, Fyora. Thank you for letting me have those few years of another life. Thank you...  
_

"If you knew there was a thief on the loose," she mused aloud, "and you couldn't stop him breaking in, what would you do with your most precious possession? Leave it on display?" Her eyes glittered behind her spectacles. "Or hide it… somewhere no-one would even _think _ of looking for it?"

As the other Faeries watched, Mianne murmured a spell. Nothing happened until the moment when, delicately and with an elegance quite unlike her usual self, she removed her spectacles and set them on the lectern. At once a shimmer of light surrounded her, making the crowd gasp.

A gust of wind came out of nowhere, ripping the purple silk dress Mianne always wore and lifting it away from her. There was a breath of shock from the audience as her wings—her silly, flimsy, lilac wings—went with it. Her hair, swept up by the breeze, was darkening and shortening, breaking the illusion-spell Fyora had put on it. Mianne stood resplendent in starlight-blue, her true wings glittering behind her like the essence of the night sky.

"You—" someone began. Mianne looked down at the speaker, and recognised the Fire Faerie she'd met in the suburbs.

"Sorry?" she asked. "I didn't catch what you said."

"I…" The Faerie tried to look anywhere but at Mianne. "I'm sorry, Leader… please just let me get my things and I'll go…"

Mianne could have said many things. But every instinct told her that this was not the time.

_ Farewell, once again, to normality...  
_

"We need everyone on board," the Space Faerie said with a benevolent smile. "Sit down, Lulia dear. It's going to be a very long night."

* * *

Author's Note:  
This was the first _real_ SI story, and the first to be published in the Neopian Times. Thus, the Times SI has to work without the background of "Mission Command" which would've been useful to have around. Still... 


End file.
